Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness: How to Stay Sane and Live One Step Ahead of Your Symptoms

The writer doesn't give you a bunch of stupid suggestions like, "eat gluten free and take these supplements!" She gives good advice about how to cope and accept without giving up. There were two parts of the book that I didn't feel applied to many patients with chronic illness. Although the part about romantic relationships contained some advice I might be able to apply to my own relationship, it mostly talked about how to start a relationship when already sick. What if you start getting sick a few years into an established relationship and there was no way to know this would happen? How do you and your partner cope? Her advice about career options was also a little bit unrealistic, because not very many people know ahead of time that they will become sick. What do you do if the only kind of work you've ever done has involved physical labor? Not everyone is equipped to suddenly start a new career that involves working from home or sitting at a desk! They say write about what you know and I believe the author did that; she was sick from childhood, so she had time to prepare for a life with chronic illness. (By no means am I saying that she was lucky! Her life sounds way more difficult than mine and I'm thankful for the good years I had before this illness!) I'm not criticizing; I'm just letting anyone interested in this book know what to expect. I will probably reread this book multiple times as it is a great pep talk and I definitely recommend it to anyone experiencing chronic illness or pain.

This book is absolutely wonderful. This young lady has been through it all with healt issues and knows what it's like to live with chronic illness. She gives great advice on how to deal with illness in relationships, at work, at home, etc. I can't say enough how fant this book is. It's encouraging and helpful. She gives names of websites that are helpful for people with chronic illness. I'd especially recommend it for anyone with GI issues, but any chronic illness would be relatable with this book.

This book has been a godsend to me. I was recently diagnosed with vasculitis and have been really struggling emotionally. This book lifted me up and gave me hope and ideas and things to think about. I have recommended it to my friends with chronic illness as well. Thank you to the writer for making this!

I read this book in two days and I like how easy and straightforward it was to read and there are funny parts. It’s way better for a person just getting an illness and how to advocate for yourself.I’ve been in chronic pain for 3.5 years and this is my first chronic pain book so I know all this stuff by now. I was hoping for something a little more deep.

I loved the insight I gained from this book as well as the writers perspective. She made me realize the power I have with planning my future despite having an invisible chronic illness.

My favorite non-specific chronic illness book written by a patient. The advice is helpful and not overbearing, and the author includes good tips and concrete tasks (e.g. how to create an elevator pitch about your illness). These things might seem “obvious,” but I had never considered many of them before reading this book, and reading about them laid out many of the anxieties I’d been suppressing. I also love her tone. It’s never irritating or overbearing, but consistently hopeful and upbeat.

As someone who struggles with Crohns Disease, I appreciated the authors tips on keeping yourself active and maintaining self care even when your body is in pain. There were some very obvious things that I felt were almost too common sense to be related in a book, but I guess not everyone has a mature or sensible viewpoint on their illness.

I chose three stars because this book was middle of the road for what I was needing. Its encouraging, and has some good reminders and tips, and lots of how to self advocate, etc. This would've been very helpful for me when I was newly diagnosed. She provides a lot of resources at the end, and goes over different areas of your life and gives "how to" advice. The book was a little too basic for me, but I could see it being helpful for someone just starting on the chronic illness path.

I didn’t feel it applied to me. Different kind of life experiences and I saw no personal benefit so returned

Fantastic book i think it’s a good read for anyone who has any disease but i think its more helpful for the significant other or family to read to really understand where the person going thru it deals with and gives them better understanding when it’s a hidden illness

"Does what it says on the tin" as they say. I've read what feels like a million illness memoirs and advice manuals for various kinds of health conditions--and not all of them were worth my time. This certainly was, both in print format and audio format. I have already been recommending it to friends.

For people who don't have much experience with a chronic illness or issues while having a flare up its a very great book with a lot of helpful advice.